Chapter 3: Scout Recon

I had two days before the transport left heading out to the station where fifth regiment was based. During transit I wore my class C dress uniform which was more comfort than the other two. It consisted of soft dark blue pants with a thin sleeved dark blue turtle neck. On the plus side I did not have to wear my awards so everyone and their sister did not go to attention and salute me when they saw me.

I walked off the shuttle with returning men and women. I was pulling my EQ and weapon’s bag on a float and carrying my kit bag. I stopped at the large desk beside the hatch and the senior sergeant that sat there, “Excuse me sergeant, I am looking for the recon company.”

He glanced at me and sat back, “You are a little young lance corporal.”

He looked towards the shuttle tube I had come through and nodded, “You would be from York which means you are lance corporal England.”

I looked at him in surprise and he grinned, “I had a cousin on Glamour.”

I nodded and he gestured to the hatch, “Take the instation tram across to the last stop. From there you will see the unit ID board.”

When I reached the wide corridor the company was located at I glanced at the image of a dragon beside the hatch with the motto, “Eyes of the Dragon.”

I walked into the large room and set my things beside the hatch before walking to the desk a sergeant sat behind. He looked up, “Can I help you lance corporal?”

I nodded, “I have orders to report.”

He looked me over before touching the intercom, “We have a newbie Top.”

“Send him in.”

The sergeant gestured to the inner hatch and I straightened before walking to the hatch. I stepped into the room and moved to the top sergeant’s desk ignoring the Junior Captain. I handed my order chip across and he slid it into his reader before frowning and looking up at me, “You just graduated from advanced training?”

I nodded and he looked at the captain as he came to the desk. The top sergeant looked at me and sat back, “recon only accepts soldiers that have been in combat in a line company. How did you manage to get orders to my company lance corporal?”

I smiled and pulled my ID tags and slid them across the desk. He thumbed the tags and then they both snapped to attention. I shook my head, “That really makes me uncomfortable Top.”

They looked at each other and the top sergeant grinned and held his hand out. They only had one slot open for me and that was in the scout platoon. For the next three months I more than proved myself. It was right after that when we were pulled off the range for a briefing. I sat beside corporal Golden with our two privates on my other side.

The commander that started to brief us was very through. The imperial council had received a warning from a planet called Andrew’s Fortune. Fleet was going in to settle the planet down in just over two weeks. We were going in first, just my company.

The stealth shuttle broke through the atmosphere slowly and composite capsules were kicked free. I watched the guide and rotated my capsule before slowing it with the micro anti gravs. We were the last to drop with the rest of the platoon already down. I followed corporal Golden as she headed towards our landing point. The two privates kept in position on us as they followed.

A thousand feet above ground the capsule cracked open. I popped my anti grav as the shattered capsule seemed to flake and turn to ash. I settled to the ground and pulled the anti grav off to put it in my pack. I checked the two privates as the corporal checked her headings. When she looked at me, I gestured and she nodded before turning to lead the way.

Unlike the three others, I also wore the Swift on my right thigh and carried extra magazines for it under my arms. It was twelve hours before the corporal stopped, she gestured and we moved into a diamond position. The corporal touched her holo map and touched a spot before pointing to the ground. She touched a spot for each of us and gave us a moment before shutting the holo down.

We split up and headed out into the night. My recon area was the farthest away and in an area with structures. I moved carefully and finally checked my own map before moving up onto a high parking structure. I was actually a little outside my area but this building gave me the perfect angle to look into a group of military warehouses.

What I saw was not good. The three I was able to see into through high windows held rank after rank of armored combat suits. I glanced at the team repeater tags and moved to my next area. I was moving carefully and silently when one of the team tags blinked yellow and then red. Another did the same thing and then corporal Golden’s tag went yellow.

I knew right then that something had gone terrible wrong. The three armored combat suits came out of the night headed towards me. I did not bother with my rifle and pulled my silenced Swift. I had loaded all the magazines with armor piercing ammo and with the power of the 14mm it would punch completely through a suit of combat armor.

I shot three times with the same accuracy I was used to. The three men in the armored suits never even knew they were dead. I headed straight for corporal Golden since she was closest. She was struggling in the grip of a combat suit while several soldiers laughed and teased her, they never knew I was there until it was to late.

I opened fired on the group before shooting the suit through the head with my Swift. I shot three more men before yanking Golden off the ground, “Time to go boss.”

She snarled, “Let me kill these bastards!”

I shook her, “Most are dead. We need to find privates Karn and Jacobs.”

She straightened and looked around before grabbing her pack and her weapon from a dead sergeant, “They broke my tracker so lead the way.”

I nodded and glanced at the two red repeater tags and started for Karn. We founded him or his body. They were carrying him and his equipment towards the base HQ buildings. I let Golden open the ball and took out the three suits before switching to my rifle. While I guarded us, she took his tags and destroyed his equipment. We caught the group that had killed Jacobs close to the HQ.

After I killed the suits and went on guard, Golden started destroying his equipment. That was when a strike force found us. The group wore normal body armor that my assault rifle punched holes through. Golden went down with a round through her upper chest after destroying Jacob’s equipment.

I swept the few remaining soldiers with auto fire before spinning and yanking her up and over my shoulder. My rifle hung from its sling as I headed away at a jog with my Swift in hand. I did not even slow down when the five man team appeared in front of me. They were in suits but five shots from the Swift dropped them as I moved through.

A couple of miles away I stopped and turned to put the corporal down before quickly checking her wound. I gave her a shot of pain killer before fishing out my long range radio. I switched to the emergency setting and started encrypting my message. When I finished I changed the settings just in case and put it away. Golden groaned when I squatted beside her, “Leave me.”

I smiled, “Sorry.”

I went through her pack and moved most of it to mine before destroying the rest. I lifted her in my arms and started walking, I glanced into her face and grinned, “I always thought I would do this with my wife first.”

She slapped my chest, “Get me out of here and I will pretend.”

I grinned and kept going, it took all night to get to the squad RP. No one was there and somehow I knew they were not coming. I carefully put corporal Golden’s anti grav on her and then my own. She was almost completely out of it as I switched our anti grav on and lifted her. My first jump took me almost a quarter mile and I adjusted for our weight before continuing.